I received a Mio Black Typhoon big fan case, the good 13-blade variety, this afternoon. I thought I'd describe it for you. Coolerguys sells this case, and so does PCToys. On the Coolerguys site, there are 4 photos that can be enlarged as usual. Performance-PCs also sells it, but calls it the "Cyclone".

Foto#1, the classic beauty shot, is accurate. In person, the case looks even better than that shot. As shown, the big fan is centered vertically (which it isn't on the Xclio/Prestige/Solo604 case). I don't mind the front fan grille since I'll be sealing the front panel with 1/8" rubber as usual. The grille looks great!

Foto#2 shows the floppy and USB "stealth" covers opened. These two covers have a clever gadget that opens and closes these covers. You just push on the upper right corner of either cover to open it, and push the same place the same way to close it!

Foto#3 is misleading re the smaller fans. The case does come with a 120mm LED fan on the front panel, but it's mounted on the front of the panel behind the bezel grille, not on the rear of the front panel as shown. The case does not come with a rear-mounted fan. The rear exhaust hole is for a 120mm fan; the fan in Foto3 appears to be a 140mm. The front panel (but not the rear panel) is in fact drilled to mount either a 140mm or 120mm fan. There's an auxiliary rear exhaust "grille" above the 7 PCI ports. Both rear exhaust ports in Foto3 appear to have parts missing: foto problem? Incomplete prototype? There's nothing wrong with either exhaust on my case.

Foto#4 is wrong. The big fan is not shown centered vertically, and there's a grille below the fan. In fact, the fan is centered vertically and there's no grille on the left panel as shown. Forget foto4.

This case is 430mm high, 200mm wide, and 440mm deep exclusive of the bezel and the thumbscrews on the rear (the thumbscrews are why some of these 440mm cases are listed as 445mm deep without bezel). This is exactly the same as the Xclio/Prestige/Solo604 cases. The top is fastened by the same 3 connections on the left side and the same 5 on the right side. However, on the Mio rivets are used, not screws, so the top is not removable.

While the basic case (not bezel) design is common, the details of the case are obviously different. This case was not made in the same factory as the Xclio. I assume that somebody produced a reference case design, and the two factories supplied the details each in their own way. I weighed the two right side panels and they weighed essentially the same, so the steel is the same guage. The finish on the steel's black paint and on the plastic bezel is very shiny black like the Xclio/Prestige and unlike the Solo604.

The left side panel incorporates an Aspire fan controller (analog), without the Aspire label, with the adjustment in the fan mounting bezel. The wiring is set up so you can either use the controller or unplug it and use the fan plain vanilla as per the Xclio et al cases. Molex connectors are used, as in the Xclio.

The side panels, alas, are not interchangeable between the Mio and the Xclio, although the design is identical. There's enough fine-detail difference so they don't fit.

I bought this case for its styling, and I'm very pleased with its styling. It's possible to consider not modding (cutting out) the two rear exhausts, so the only mandatory SPCR-compatible mod is dremeling out most of the 3.5" HDD cage to make room for suspending the HDDs and their spot cooling fan. [Please don't leave the front panel open so noise, esp. the HDDs, can escape! I personally consider sealing the front panel with 1/8" rubber a mandatory mod, but your mileage may differ.]

The case has rolled edges on all the sheet metal (as does the Xclio), no cuts here!

The Mio Black Typhoon is AKA Casebuy Mio 5601. Casebuy is the maker (seller?), and the blue label on the big fan hub sez "CaseBuy".

I've seen other big-fan cases with the giveaway second rear exhaust over the PCI panels. The Mio is not the only product based on this version of the common reference design. This is good because I've discovered there's nothing wrong with the design once you have room to suspend the HDDs.

This review is for an earlier version of the Mio, with a drastically plain-Jane bezel. But otherwise, the first 8 photos of the review fairly represent the current Mio, especially the details of the big fan and its controller, which are unchanged. Also, the rear view is pretty close (but not identical) to the current model.

Once you get to the pic of the fan controller with its cover removed, that's the end of anything related to the current Mio.

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